Monica Mastrantonio – Brazil

Monica Mastrantonio is a Social Psychology Professor, lecturer, writer and speaker. she loves getting to know new people and places and finding a quiet space to relax and write. She also enjoys cooking, reading, travelling and jogging. Monica intends to use her time at Stiwdio Maelor to write on the topic of “Time as a Social Artefact and Construct”, which was the topic of her Masters and Doctoral thesis. Most of her work has been written in Portuguese. She seeks to expand its audience with a new English version of this work. She is looking forward to working on this project while at Maelor.

Acid Vanity

How come you regard yourself as smart when you know you are not? Please tell me! Be my guest, now. Not being able to perceive a mile ahead is not a compliment, ok? Ever felt any fear, fever, pain? Ever panicked about not finding the right door in the dark? What a shame! You got locked inside out. Aha.

With or without your glasses: you can live. Everyone can. Got a beating heart? That is not the same as being alive, you know that; just in case you haven ́t understood the difference. Those glasses really protect you from seeing and living. They keep the perfect distance adjusted. Just another tool for disguise but they do not make your battle any easier. They might seem to help just like Fred, you know that. And you approve the intellectual effect they produce on you, acting so perfectly and accordingly. Kahlo would envy you.

Not your job, of course! I am not talking about that. The stressed and proud labor statue you have carefully shaped yourself into. One more Chinese soldier found down there, hidden in a pile of mud work and never-ending duties.

No need for updating anything in LinkedIn: your life remains the same. Unplugged & unchanged. Good girl. Unfortunately, lack of courage never pays back.

And not lying, too. Listen: I ́m not, Fred! Remember that. We might even share some perspectives: the bottom line, the view from no bridge, a predilection for sofas and we both allow you the top seat, the one which prevents you from sparing a month on holiday. The one which helps you to be regarded as a hard working domesticated girl. The one which enables you not to quit the sleeping pills and they are acid, for God ́s sake. And they do give you that stomach ache every night. Though they keep most of their promises, they just don ́t heal your need to be good.

Don ́t you super estimate yourself? Not to me. Life is not lying on that string. It is pushing back and forward till it tears everything apart including you. And everybody else is laughing tremendously. No, it ́s not a joke and it ́s not a nightmare, either. Your parents are not sleeping next door; neither is your son. You are all by yourself, no strings attached. Have you ever sung: “All by yourself”? Guess, you don ́t really know what you have been missing, Baby! Singing is so prodigious. It hits the Greek Gods. The fact you own a flat, Fred and do no harm don ́t put you in a standing position. The Greek Gods can ́t pay you any compliments. Sorry.

Maybe Fred shall give you a hand on that. Greek Gods used to be half humans and half animals back to their Golden years. Now, they get really pissed off when they realize some of their relatives are kept locked up in tight laundries with no fresh air. They know there is more to life than this. They are the Greek Gods after all. Beware. If they come down mad, nothing is left intact. It happened to all civilizations before. They hate domestication.

Keep Fred well, he is still your best companion in solitude. “Solitude”, have you heard this song from Nina (no, she is not a cat; she is a singer who could sing like any animal she ever wished)? Attention, please. Fred is not stupid. He knows you use him. He allows that. He sees all and needs no glasses. Perhaps a day will come when he sues you for using him as your self-pity escape goat. Free him if you dare? I ́m having fun now and I am not a Greek God.